A dead man walking!

Saturday 11th March, 2023

The Rajapaksa-Wickremesinghe government’s fear of elections is so intense that it is ready to do anything to sabotage the local government (LG) polls in a bid to avoid a disastrous midterm electoral setback, which will prove that it is without any popular support and legitimacy. Needless to say, a regime that undermines the people’s franchise is a threat to democracy. A dead man walking!

When the Opposition exulted recently at the issuance of a Supreme Court (SC) interim order preventing the Treasury Chief and other public officials from withholding funds allocated for the Election Commission (EC) from Budget 2023, we warned that the government would attempt a workaround. The SLPP-UNP alliance has so much at stake that it considers an election a fate worse than death.

The government informed Parliament yesterday that Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene had decided to conduct an inquiry in respect of SLPP MP Premanath C. Dolawatte’s claim that the powers and privileges of Parliament had been violated by the aforesaid SC interim order. State Minister of Finance Sehan Semasinghe told the House that the issue had been referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges (PCEP). He claimed that it would be a very serious offence for anyone to implement the SC interim order before the PCEP made a decision. It is obvious that the government is planning to cause the PCEP proceedings to drag on indefinitely. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and several party leaders accused the government of having raised a privilege issue to delay the LG polls further.

SLPP MP and former Minister Chamal Rajapaksa has been appointed the Chairman of the PCEP!

The party/coalition in power dominates all parliamentary committees and manipulates them to serve its interests, as is public knowledge. One may recall that a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) which the Mahinda Rajapaksa government appointed to probe allegations against the then Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake became a kangaroo court of sorts, and did what President Rajapaksa wanted it to do; it found CJ Bandaranayake guilty as charged, and paved the way for her ‘impeachment’. Some PSC members behaved like a bunch of rowdies. They stooped so low as to insult Dr. Bandaranayake. Some of them have fallen out with the Rajapaksas and are now championing good governance! They have also welcomed the SC interim order under discussion and are asking the government to respect the judiciary!

In 2001, Parliament and the SC found themselves on a collision course. The latter issued an interim order, preventing the then Speaker Anura Bandaranaike from proceeding with a parliamentary resolution against the then Chief Justice Sarath N Silva until the conclusion of a fundamental rights case. Bandaranaike ruled that the SC had no jurisdiction to issue such an interim order. But this time around the situation is different; the SC has asked public officials to abide by a parliamentary decision in respect of budgetary allocations. So, it defies comprehension why any MP should take exception thereto?

Parliament has allocated about Rs. 10 billion for the EC from Budget 2023, and public officials are not empowered to override parliamentary decisions and refuse to release those funds. How come a court order that state officials abide by what has been decided by a majority of MPs amounts to a breach of parliamentary privileges? Does the President or a minister have the power to direct public officials to disregard provisions in the national budget passed by Parliament? Is it that the estimates in a budget ratified by Parliament are not worth the paper they are written on?